Local Government/Health Interface

Conference notes continuing moves toward towards increasing integration between health and social care in government policy in England Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland health and social care are integrated but are undergoing the upheaval of the ‘super-Trust’ restructuring. The implications of integration are widespread and include the threat of a combined push towards the […]

The ‘Public Sector Worker’

Conference notes that the Local Government Employers have introduced the idea of the ‘Public Sector Worker’ in recent discussion documents. They have suggested that there should be core pay and conditions, providing for equity and protection for employees moving between sectors and in to shared service arrangements. The idea is also being discussed with the […]

Organising apprentices

This Conference notes the Prime Minister’s announcement on 28 January 2008 that he wants to see one in five young people on apprenticeships within 10 years, in a push to win the global “skills race”. He also announced that as a first step the number of places on offer for 16 to 18-year-olds would be […]

Housing

Conference welcomes the Government’s commitment to: 1)Two million new homes by 2016 and three million by 2020; 2)The review of the housing revenue account ‘to ensure that we have a sustainable, long term system for financing council housing’; 3)Recently published figures from Communities and Local Government suggest that over the next 15 years HRA surpluses […]

Local Government Efficiency Reviews and Disabled People

Disabled members are reporting a detrimental impact on their working conditions as a result of action arising from efficiency reviews; there is little evidence of employers meeting their legal responsibilities to undertake Disability Equality Impact Assessments when shared services or outsourcing are being contemplated. Branches should be aware of the wealth of arguments within the […]

Women in Local Government

Public sector workers are increasingly more likely to be women and to work part-time than private sector workers. In 2004, 65 per cent of public sector workers were women, compared with 41 per cent of private sector workers. Around 30 per cent of public sector workers worked part-time compared with 24 per cent of private […]

Casualisation of the Local Government Workforce

This Conference is concerned about the impact on the terms and conditions of members working in social care outside of direct local authority provision. We are also concerned that the rapid growth of agency, self employed, and community and voluntary sector provision will lead to worsening standards of employment. Disabled members report that: 1)Directly employed […]

Structural and Organisastion Change – The Local Government workforce

The local authority workforce faces an uncertain and difficult future in the face of continued pressure for “efficiency savings”, ongoing restructuring of local authorities, outsourcing, “shared services”, the impact of local area agreements of Councils’ financing and service provision, as well as radical changes in education and social care. UNISON’s briefing activity around “Making Local […]

Social Work Practices and Local Authority Services for ‘Looked After Children’

This Conference notes: 1)The passage of the Children and Young Person’s Bill through Parliament with it’s proposal for the piloting of independent ‘Social Work Practices’ to care for ‘Looked after Children’. That ‘Looked after Children’ are a very vulnerable group of young people who are cared for by the state either due to them being […]

Maximising the Impact of Workforce Development Plans on Local Bargaining

The Green Book advises all local councils to draw up Workforce Development Plans – Pt 2 (3) – and gives extensive practical guidance as to how these should be drawn up (4.8), including the role of the trade unions in developing and implementing these plans. Workforce Development Planning is now a key issue for local […]

Adult Social Services

Adult social services face a period of enormous change. The tight financial regime in which councils are operating is subjecting adult social services to major budget reductions in many authorities and the Government proposals to promote personal care budgets and self assessment means services are under threat. Members working in adult care could face redundancy […]

Social Care Services

Conference notes the continuing and increasing use of the independent, community, voluntary and private sectors to provide social care services and recognises that this threatens local government member’ jobs and terms and conditions in the following ways: 1)privatisation and externalisation of services leading to transfer of staff or redundancy; 2)competition from the independent and private […]

Innovation by the Community and Voluntary Sector

Conference supports the innovatory work that the community and voluntary sector (CVS) has traditionally carried out, campaigning on behalf of vulnerable members of society, identifying gaps in public sector provision of services, and working alongside the government to develop solutions to those gaps. Many UNISON members have been involved in such work, in organisations providing […]

Pay in the Community and Voluntary Sector

Conference notes that, despite strong campaigning by UNISON, pay and conditions for our members in the community and voluntary sector (CVS) are inferior to those in the public sector. UNISON members in the community and voluntary sector have long had a very strong involvement as providers of social care. As CVS organisations provide an increasing […]

Pay Campaign Lessons of 2007

This Conference believes that a successful pay campaign needs to be conducted prior to the wage year rather than during it. To be balloting for industrial action in October 2007 to take action in November, eight months after the wage claim should have been implemented was a recipe for failure. In future our claim needs […]